torsdag, august 31, 2006

AboutDarwin.com was created to fill a niche on the internet. It seemed to me a shame that a gentleman who has had such a profound influence on humanity did not have a website devoted exclusively to him. While there are a few excellent websites that touch on few aspects of Darwin’s life, none of them really get into the details of who Charles Darwin actually was, deep down on a personal level. This is the primary focus of my website. Other goals of this website are -

[1] To provide as much detail of the life and times of Charles Darwin as possible. My spare time is very limited, so please bear with me if progress on this front seems to be going slowly.

[2] To provide unique resources to those of you seeking information on Charles Darwin. The illustrated maps of the Beagle Voyage are, so far as I can tell, entirely unique.

[3] To illustrate his amazing life through photography.

[4] Another goal I have is to provide information to those of you who are seeking to do scholarly research on Darwin, but this is still under development.

I occasionally receive IMs from people who ask “why do I have you on my buddy list?” Most of the time I don’t have them on my buddy list, so I have no idea why I am on theirs. I will make up something like “I bought weed from your mom” or “You! You owe me back child support!” and then I never hear from them again. Mission accomplished. In the case of the astonishingly gullible and/or high Ansel89, I had to literally take him to hell to get him to leave me alone.

"Do you ever get the feeling," he paused and shifted the weight of the rifle, "that we're just actors in a play meant for someone else?"

"Nah," the other man replied, "we just follow orders."

The bunker shuddered from the impact of a distant explosion and loose dirt hissed down from the timbers overhead. The soldiers inside the bunker were used to the whistle-thump of the artillery. Shells landed nearby every 14 seconds. Precisely.

So I’ve been driving by this thing several times a year for the last 3 years and I finally pulled over and took a picture of it a few days ago. This is located in Frostburg, Maryland on I-68. According to their website, they started construction on this boat in 1976. Not a thing has been done to this structure in the past 3 years. I wonder what the holdup is. Funding low??

The Ark is being constructed to the specifications of Noah’s original Ark–450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. To give you a better idea of what that will look like–Imagine a structure one and halffootball fields long and three stories high!

Det er sikkelig gammelt nytt nå, men Jon Nödtveidt fra black metal bandet Dissection begikk selvmord den 14. august. Det som får meg til skrive om det først nå er at jeg leste det som sto om han på bandets offisielle Internett-side:As rumours have started to spread we feel obliged to confirm Jon Nödtveidt's death. Jon Nödtveidt was a man who lived his life according to his convictions and True Will. A couple of days ago he chose to end his life by his own hands. As a true Satanist he led his life in the way he wanted and ended it when he felt that he had fulfilled his self-created destiny. Not everyone will have understanding or acceptance for his personal path in this life and beyond, but all must respect his choice.

Those of us who have met him in his last days can assure that he was more focussed, happier and stronger than ever. It is our full conviction that he left this world of lies with a scornful laughter, knowing that he had fulfilled everything that he had set up for himself to accomplish. The empty space that he leaves behind will be filled with the dark essence that he manifested through his life and black-magical work. His legacy and Luciferian Fire will live on through those few who truly knew him and appreciated his work for what it really was and still is. As our brother's goal in life and death never was to "Rest in Peace", we will instead wish him victories in all battles to come, until the Acosmic Destiny has been fulfilled.

An ambitious project to build the world's largest radio telescope high in the Chilean Andes looks set to give astronomers their best ever view of deep space -- and provide them with a dramatic window back through time to the formation of the universe itself.

However, they have not acquired a perfect mastery of the art of lying; they lie so clumsily and ineptly that anyone who is just a little observant can easily detect it. But for us Christians they stand as a terrifying example of God's wrath.

Over and above that we let them get rich on our sweat and blood, while we remain poor and they suck the marrow from our bones.

First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, ...

Pope Benedict XVI has sacked his chief astronomer after a series of public clashes over the theory of evolution.

He has removed Father George Coyne from his position as director of the Vatican Observatory after the American Jesuit priest repeatedly contradicted the Holy See's endorsement of "intelligent design" theory, which essentially backs the "Adam and Eve" theory of creation.

mandag, august 21, 2006

Space... The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, apparently, to reenact old detective novels with your pants off. To seek out new ways to make my life hell. To boldly assume that the janitors can just beam your jizz off the inside of an image reductor grid.

After suffering through The Core, we made a sci-fi action thriller to top it. Behold: SUN DAY. A rag-tag team of scientists have to go to the Sun. One has a daughter, one is dating that one's daughter, and one is a sexy female scientist.

torsdag, august 17, 2006

PlanetMath is a virtual community which aims to help make mathematical knowledge more accessible. PlanetMath's content is created collaboratively: the main feature is the mathematics encyclopedia with entries written and reviewed by members. The entries are contributed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (FDL) in order to preserve the rights of both the authors and readers in a sensible way.

PlanetMath entries are written in LaTeX, the lingua franca of the worldwide mathematics community. All of the entries are automatically cross-referenced with each other, and the entire corpus is kept updated in real-time.

tirsdag, august 15, 2006

Amazing....Beyond belief!!!! but you best believe. Did the human race evolve from fish? Some say we evolved from the apes. This could be the proof that we came from fish! This is the fish that was discussed on the Coast to Coast radio show with George Noory. Rest assured that this auction is for REAL and not a joke. The winner to this auction will recieve our long lost ancestor shown in the photos below. Please email me if you have any questions.

A nimble, four-legged robot is so surefooted it can recover its balance even after being given a hefty kick. The machine, which moves like a cross between a goat and a pantomime horse, is being developed as a robotic pack mule for the US military.

BigDog is described by its developers Boston Dynamics as “the most advanced quadruped robot on Earth”.

Raibert says the latest version of BigDog can handle slopes of 35° – a steeper gradient than one in two. The hydraulics are driven by a two-stroke single-cylinder petrol engine, and it can carry over 40 kg, about 30% of its bodyweight. The robot can follow a simple path on its own, or can be remotely controlled.

The legs on the next version of BigDog, V3, will each have an additional powered joint and will be able to take on even steeper slopes and rougher terrain at higher speed, its makers say.

lørdag, august 12, 2006

Couldn't you have gotten a MySpace? Everyone's got one, you need one. You're not internet savvy until you get one. It's like a LiveJournal, but it looks different.

- admin@myspace.com

As you know, Something Awful has not been funny since it stopped running ICQ pranks and Jeff K. articles. These guys obviously need help before they resort to making up another hurricane Katrina relief publicity scam and I was planning on answering questions on the internet anyway, so I figured I'd save two birds with one stone.

Bjørn Lomborg of the Copenhagen Consensus argues that the environment is not where we should be spending our money. He tells us what we should focus on instead. To learn more and to watch the entire interview, please visit www.foreignexchange.tv. Foreign Exchange is produced by Azimuth Media and presented by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

fredag, august 11, 2006

Some of the earliest printed books dealt with the technical problems of construction and manufacture. By the beginning of the twentieth century there were dozens of magazines which provided technical guidance to professionals and to amateurs.

Here are some examples of the best pop-tech magazines of the early twentieth century

The Engines of Our Ingenuity is a radio program that tells the story of how our culture is formed by human creativity. Written and hosted by John Lienhard, it is heard nationally on Public Radio and produced by KUHF-FM Houston. Among other features, this web site houses the transcripts for every episode heard since the show's inception in 1988.

torsdag, august 10, 2006

Pagan religion gaining popularity among prisonersBy KRISTEN GELINEAUAssociated Press WriterJuly 23, 2006STAUNTON, Va. -- A pagan religion that some experts say can be interpreted as encouraging violence is gaining popularity among prison inmates, one of whom is scheduled to be executed this week for killing a fellow prisoner at the foot of an altar.

Michael Lenz is scheduled to die Thursday for the death of Brent Parker, who was stabbed dozens of times at Augusta Correctional Center during a gathering of inmates devoted to Asatru, whose followers worship Norse gods. At his trial, Lenz testified that Parker had not been taking the religion seriously and had to die to protect the honor of the gods.

Other followers call the religion misunderstood and say most adherent inmates do not use it to further violent agendas.

The gang culture in prison also contributes, said theologian Britt Minshall, a former police officer and Baltimore pastor who ministers to inmates. Some white inmates who felt threatened by black prison gangs formed their own gangs and sought out a belief system they felt would provide additional security, he said.

"It's a way of grouping together for safety," he said. "And you have to have a god in the middle of that to really keep you safe."

Asatru is often referred to as Odinism, although some followers believe the two are separate religions. It is a polytheistic, pre-Christian faith native to Scandinavia whose adherents worship gods including Thor and Odin.

It emphasizes a connection with one's ancestors and values honor, loyalty, generosity and truth.

An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people in the United States consider themselves Asatruars or Odinists, said Stephen McNallen, director of the Asatru Folk Assembly, a leading Asatru group.

No national statistics are kept on how many inmates follow Asatru. But experts say its popularity enjoyed a boost from the Supreme Court, which last year sided with an Asatru inmate by upholding a federal law requiring state prisons to accommodate prisoners' religious affiliations.

Asatru is often associated with white supremacy, although most Asatru leaders bristle at suggestions of such a relationship.

A 1999 FBI report on domestic terrorism described Odinism as a "white supremacist ideology that lends itself to violence."

"What makes Odinists dangerous is the fact that many believe in the necessity of becoming martyrs for their cause," the report said.

Such comments are typical of those who don't understand Asatru, said Jane Ruck, who runs the National Prison Kindred Alliance and ministers to Asatru inmates. White supremacists make up only a small portion of Asatruars, and most inmates who follow the religion do not use it to push hate-filled, violent agendas, she said.

"There might be some white supremacists who consider themselves Asatruars, but they're not (Asatruars) because they're not following our beliefs," Ruck said. "We don't hate anybody; we just want to take pride in our heritage."

Lenz and another inmate, fellow Asatruar Jeffrey Remington, stabbed Parker a combined 68 times with makeshift knives. Remington was also sentenced to death but committed suicide in 2004.

According to Art Jipson, who studies white racial extremism and directs the University of Dayton's criminal justice studies program, Lenz's belief that fatal force was warranted is not surprising.

"If he believes the fight was necessary, whether or not it was legal is the least of his concerns," Jipson said. "If he's a truly devout practicing Odinist or Asatruist, he's doing what he must do. And it would be a shame--it would be a black mark on his soul, his spirit ... for him to be cowardly and not to fight."

That kind of warrior mentality can exacerbate the tense environment behind bars, said Mark Potok, a leader at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., which monitors hate groups.

"It's a theology that celebrates raw physical power and domination, and that is why I think it is so popular among prison inmates," Potok said. "The kind of inmate who might be attracted to this is a white man who is looking for justification for extreme violence, who is looking for an ideology which explains why he should be the boss."

lørdag, august 05, 2006

Whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Sikh, there is one common belief that all religious fundamentalists share: worship of God and obedience to his laws are essential for a peaceful, healthy society. From Orthodox rabbis in the occupied West Bank to Wahhabi sheiks in Saudi Arabia, from the pope in Vatican City to Mormons in Salt Lake City, the lament is the same: God and his will must be at the center of everyone's lives in order to ensure a moral, prosperous, safe, collective existence.

Furthermore, fundamentalists agree that, when large numbers of people in a society reject God or fail to make him the center of their lives, societal disintegration is sure to follow. Every societal ill-whether crime, poverty, poor public education, or AIDS-is thus blamed on a lack of piety. A most disconcerting example of this worldview was expressed in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, when Jerry Falwell blamed the terrorists attacks on America's "throwing God out of the public square," further adding that "when a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture . . . the result is not good."

There's an aborted fetus in the sky over Cleveland. A political group calling itself "The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform" is paying to tow a billboard-sized photograph of an abortion behind a plane. If you live or work in Cleveland and you look up at just the right time, you might see a bloodied bucket of limbs and little mangled face looking back down at you like some sort of horrid avenging angel. It's their grotesque way of saying abortion is bad.

When I first saw a photograph of Juliana Wetmore as a newborn my immediate reaction was "there is the response to that flying abortion billboard."

torsdag, august 03, 2006

At the end of the Middle Ages, European tradition held that all of the Earth´s inhabitants had been created by God in one place, the Garden of Eden, soon after the formation of the earth. But as the scientific revolution began to unfold some 400 years ago, naturalists started to catalog fossils according to the layers in which they were found. Soon a very unexpected and troubling pattern emerged.

In 1988, an article appeared in the alt.paranormal newsgroup of the Internet. It was critical of the tools used by skeptics in discussions with non-skeptics and in evaluating the extraordinary claims made by proponents of the paranormal. I saw the article for the first time on Jim Lippard’s website (see below for the URL) while exploring the websites of other skeptical individuals and organizations.